This invention relates to swinging gates and is more particularly concerned with gates adapted to be disposed across a roadway and which can be opened by pressure applied to either side of the gate, such as by an automobile or other vehicle, and which automatically closes.
In providing gates of the aforementioned type, a commonly encountered problem is that after the gate is opened, the automatic means for closing it goes into operation immediately after the gate is opened or after the pressure used to open it is released. Consequently, the vehicles intending to pass through the opened gate often do not have sufficient time to do so before the gate closes. As a result, the vehicle in passing through the gate is frequently struck by the gate as it is closing, resulting in damage to the vehicle or the gate or both. This problem is more severe in the case of long vehicles or combinations of vehicles such as trucks, tractors an trailers, farming equipment, etc.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle-operated automatically closing gate which permits vehicles to pass through without danger of being struck by the gate in closing.
It is another object of the invention to provide a gate of the foregoing object which opens rapidly and is held open for a predetermined period of time.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a gate of the aforesaid nature which can be opened either automatically by a vehicle or manually by a person on foot.
It is a still another object of this invention to provide a gate of the aforesaid nature of rugged durable design amenable to low cost manufacture.
These objects and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.